jack-in-the-pulpit

[jak-in-thuh-pool-pit, -puhl-]

noun

plural

jack-in-the-pulpits 

1. A North American plant, Arisaema triphyllum, of the arum family, having an upright spadix arched over by a green or striped purplish-brown spathe.

jack-in-the-pulpit

noun

1. an E North American aroid plant, Arisaema triphyllum , having a leaflike spathe partly arched over a clublike spadix

2. another name for cuckoopint

Word History and Origins

Origin of jack-in-the-pulpit¹

An Americanism dating back to 1840–50

Example Sentences

We didn’t get lucky on our April hike, but we did spot plenty of jack-in-the-pulpit, a hooded plant also called the bog onion.

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A native jack-in-the-pulpit was raised over four years from seed.

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These included aroids as diverse as the beautifully colored Japanese jack-in-the-pulpit and the corpse flower, a gigantic stinking plant from Sumatra whose blooming has become a crowd-pulling event in botanical gardens around the world.

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The jack-in-the-pulpit had the same kind of trouble.

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It’s called jack-in-the-pulpit because “it looks like someone’s standing inside of it,” he says.

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